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This book addresses clinical and epidemiological topics of medicine and statistics; then topics of epidemiological research and
finally,´meta-epidemiological´ clinical research. The author offers a wealth of expertise acquired in a 50-year career in the field.

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The book is organized so as to address in separate sections first the preparatory topics of medicine (clinical and epidemiological), science in general, and statistics (mathematical); then topics of epidemiological research proper; and, finally, topics of ´meta-epidemiological´ clinical research. In those two main sections, a further grouping is based on the distraction between objects and methods of study. In this framework, the particular topics are addressed both descriptively and quasi-prescriptively, commonly with a number of explicatory annotations.

This book is intended to serve as a handbook for whomever is, in whatever way, concerned with epidemiological or ´meta-epidemiological´ clinical research. But besides this, it is also intended to serve as a textbook for students in introductory courses on ´epidemiological´ research - to which end there is a suggested hierarchy of the concepts that might reasonably be covered.

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Preface.Introduction. Acknowledgements. PART I. MEDICINE, SCIENCE, AND STATISTICS. I - 1. Terms and Concepts of Medicine. I - 2. Terms and Concepts of Science. I - 3. Terms and Concepts of Statistics. PART II. EPIDEMIOLOGICAL RESEARCH PROPER. II - 1. Introduction. II - 2. Introductory Terms and Concepts. II - 3. Terms and Concepts of Objects of Study. II - 4. Terms and Concepts of Methods of Study. PART III. META-EPIDEMIOLOGICAL CLINICAL RESEARCH. III - 1. Introduction. III - 2. Introductory Terms and Concepts. III - 3. Terms and Concepts of Objects of Study. II - 4. Terms and Concepts of Methods of Study. References. Index. Hierarchy of Concepts

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From the reviews:

"Miettinen´s readers know that he cares deeply about words and their usage. ... This new volume, too, is a type of dictionary--one divided into three broad categories: ´Medicine, Science, and Statistics´; ´Epidemiological Research Proper´; and ´Meta-Epidemiological Clinical Research.´ ... Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-level undergraduates through professionals/practitioners." (T. P. Gariepy, Choice, Vol. 49 (4), December, 2011)

"An important book for studying and gaining deeper insight into the theory of epidemiology. ... This book will be particularly helpful for those interested in theoretical epidemiology and concerned with proper usage of concepts and terms. We therefore warmly recommend it to all students of epidemiology and all practitioners of epidemiological research." (Jan van den Broeck and Jonathan R. Brestoff, International Journal of Epidemiology, Vol. 41 (3), 2012)

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After medical school O.S. Miettinen devoted half-a-century of full-time effort to ever better understand both clinical and community medicine and the research that is needed to produce the scientific knowledge-base of these.

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